An Essex farmer is backing the NFU's campaign to highlight the threat posed by illegal imports.

Roy Threadgold was badly hit by the foot-and-mouth disease at his sheep dairy farm, being the ninth confirmed case in Essex in March last year.

To help make travellers aware Mr Threadgold, along with other East Anglian farmers, will be handing out postcard questionnaires to departing passengers at Stansted Airport on Thursday.

The postcard will ask holidaymakers a series of questions on what level of food and plant import controls they experienced on their return to the UK.

The NFU aims to distribute about 10,000 postcard questionnaires at major airports across the country to assess the effectiveness of Defra's "Don't bring back more than you bargained for" campaign.

Mr Threadgold, of Boydells Dairy Farm, Wethersfield, said: "Unless we have effective border controls, outbreaks like foot-and-mouth will happen again.

"This campaign will help raise public awareness about the issue and also provide useful information about the effectiveness of current controls."

Published Monday August 19, 2002

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